Google lets you roll your own

A few weeks ago we described the search “macros” that the Microsoft search site Live had unleashed. This week, we see Google getting in on the act. The idea is to roll your own search engine that fits a custom-tailored need.

Google calls its service Custom Search Engine (CSE) and it’s got some differences and many similarities to other versions of the same idea already on the Web. (See www.rollyo.com as an early example.)

Here’s one example offered by Google of a specific engine developed through CSE: www.Jumpup.com.

This is a site just for small business, built to scour the Intuit databases of resources for entrepreneurs.

To get a handle on what Google is trying to do, go to the FAQ for CSE: http://www.google.com/ coop/cse/overview.

What use is it? Say you only want to find hits that relate to medical journals; Google helps you devise a CSE with domains for that topic.

Then you save that specific search engine and use it when necessary.

Yahoo shortcuts

Yahoo.com has its own handy one-page link to about 30 shortcuts that can find — quickly — answers to the most common consumer and map-related questions.

Go to: http://tools.search. yahoo.com/shortcuts/ and in the group for Local searches, look for the business search bar. Type in Coeur d’Alene and pizza and hit search. The other search bars there run the gamut, from finding maps or getting a traffic report to checking ZIP codes by address, tracking UPS or USPS shipments or updating commercial flight information.

There’s also a gas price shortcut, letting you check prices within a ZIP code.

The 32 search shortcuts can all be used individually at any Yahoo main search page. Just use the exact same form as shown on the shortcuts page.